Internet users from 32 countries deciding upon the winner of the European Audience Award within the 7th ArteKino Festival (which unspooled online from 1 to 31 December 2022 – read our news) have crowned Crooked Lines [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Joana Ribeiro
scheda film] by Portuguese director Rita Nunes their winner. Produced by Leopardo Filmes in co-production with RTP, the film stars Joana Ribeiro (the European Film Promotion’s Shooting Star – read our interview) and Américo Silva in the roles of Luisa and Antonio respectively. The former is an actress, the latter an older journalist, and their paths cross on Twitter. Antonio is known anonymously as Rasputin on the social media channel. They start to exchange messages and their obsession with one another begins… The award consisted of 20,000 euros, and the film can be viewed on arte.tv, as well as on ARTE’s YouTube cinema channel, until 31 January.

The Youth Jury Prize, meanwhile (decided upon by 15 Europeans aged between 18 and 25, in partnership with Erasmus+, and consisting of 10,000 euros), went to Summer Survivors [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Marija Kavtaradzė
scheda film] by Lithuania’s Marija Kavtaradze. Discovered in Toronto’s Discovery line-up, this first feature film revolves around a young and ambitious psychologist who agrees to transport two patents to a psychiatric facility by the sea. This unlikely road trip sees the three characters growing closer together as they each fight their own inner battles… Production was entrusted to M-Films and Afterschool, and the film will be available on arte.tv and on ARTE’s YouTube cinema channel from 1 to 28 February.

The 7th ArteKino Festival registered 1.9 million views and another 493,000 on YouTube.